


I'll take you home again, Kathleen

by MelodyGarnet



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Tarsus IV, one for sadieyuki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-19
Updated: 2015-08-19
Packaged: 2018-04-15 11:59:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4605909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodyGarnet/pseuds/MelodyGarnet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What it takes for Riley to realize that James Kirk wasn't just another survivor but was the JIM who took care of him-as-a-toddler, isn't the episode with Kodos, strangely enough.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll take you home again, Kathleen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SadieYuki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SadieYuki/gifts).



What it takes for Riley to realize that James Kirk wasn't just another survivor but was the JIM who took care of him-as-a-toddler, isn't the episode with Kodos, strangely enough. He'd been too much in a daze of shock, rage and vengeance to think about it.

 

The next time the Enterprise has shore leave, it's no pleasure planet. They're vacationing in a city that's overrun with lush green parks through which storm playful kids of various species. It's a different kind of pleasure: it's peace. Nature is healthy and bountiful, children run without fear, and it's exactly what Kevin needs so shortly after Kodos. One of the kids- human, barely four- trips and falls chasing after the others. She cries ear-piercingly. A number of adults rush to her, but Kirk is the first to scoop her gently up. Most other adults wander away, satisfied that she's seen to. He's rocking her now, and singing a song to calm her down.

Kevin stays and stares. He knows that song. He knows *exactly* that voice, singing *exactly* that song.

He knows, without a doubt, that the Captain wasn't just any survivor. He was JIM. He was- he was the reason why Kevin was alive, why Kevin had forgotten his parents' names but never forgot the lyrics. He was the one who had taught Kevin what warm and safe was when the whole world wasn't. He was the reason why Kevin had gotten in fights- with his parents, with his friends, with his teachers- every time they said that JIM didn't equal to DAD, or SAFE, or LIFE.

 

Kevin turns up at Kirk's cabin that night to say thank you. They speak long into the night,and when Kevin starts getting tired it's JIM who offers a hug and a bunk to share- just for this night, when they're vulnerable, when Tarsus is close and hunger and terror are gnawing at them once more, when they need to realize that they're both safe, when one desperately needs to protect the other, when the other desperately needs to thank the one.

 

The next morning and many more after that, it's Kevin who sees to it that the Captain is fed and eats until his belly is full. No-one but a select few understand why Kirk will accept and follow comments on his diet from the young man, when those of anyone else would have been ignored. He hums while waiting for the captain to finish his plate, and the only one not flinching at "I'll Take You Home, Kathleen" is JIM.


End file.
